The present invention relates to a method for controlling a component of a chassis of a vehicle and a correspondingly configured control device.
Vehicles with active or proactive chasses, which automatically adjust to actual road conditions, usually include a so-called “reactive” controller and a so-called “proactive” path. By means of the reactive controller unevenesses or road conditions can be compensated after a respective vehicle has driven on a section of the road or course. A proactive control method on the other hand is based on a forward-looking approach, for example by using sensors in order to provide a setpoint variable for setting or controlling the chassis of the respective vehicle directly upon a first contact with an unevenness or a potentially relevant road section and to proactively precisely adjust the vehicle to the road section to be driven on.
Reactive controllers and proactive control methods both have advantages and disadvantages. For example in a proactive control method an actuator position of a component of a chassis of a vehicle can be exactly adjusted to the shape of the bump as determined anticipatorily, when driving over the bump, so that the anticipatorily determined bump is completely compensated and the vehicle is optimally adapted to the bump or the corresponding road section. However, because a data set composed of sensor data determined by anticipatory sensors is usually subject to errors the shape and position of possible unevenesses such as the mentioned bump may deviate from an actual shape or position of the corresponding unevenness. As a result of setting or controlling for example an actuator of a vehicle chassis according to the determined data set, the chassis may be set erroneously, for example due to measuring errors in the data set, and may react inappropriately to the actual unevenness. As a result of such an erroneous setting of components the vehicle may become destabilized and find itself in a dangerous situation.
With regard to the reactive control by means of the reactive controller, a chassis of a vehicle can be set with a fast-operating reactive controller so that a plurality of unevennesses is compensated, wherein a complete, i.e., hundred-percent, adaption to respective unevenesses can usually not be achieved. Reactive controllers further adversely affect a driving behavior of a respective vehicle when the controllers are set too fast, i.e., when they are set with an excessive bandwidth or amplification, so that usually a sluggish setting or parameterization of settings is selected, and as a consequence unevenesses cannot be completely compensated.
The European patent document EP 2 382 118 B1 describes a method and a device for determining a road profile in front of a vehicle by way of detected image data and/or data regarding the vehicle's own movement, wherein an estimation device is provided in dependence of which at least one chassis function of a vehicle is controlled and/or regulated.
The German laid open document DE 10 2012 010 553 A1 discloses a method for controlling an active chassis of a vehicle in which control signals for actuators of the chassis are generated by using data of a height profile in front of a vehicle detected by a sensor arranged on the vehicle and by using setpoint values of a movement of a chassis of the vehicle.